ad led, and always would lead, to the hoarding
of the precious metals. Gold and silver flee from a state of war.
All nations in the midst of great wars have been compelled to resort
to paper money. It was resorted to by our fathers during the
Revolution. It was only by the use of paper money that England
maintained her wars with Napoleon. At several periods during these
wars gold and silver were at a greater premium in England than they
were in this country.

I then proceeded to discuss the power of Congress to issue paper
money. I quoted an extract from the report of Mr. Dallas, in
December, 1815, in which he stated:

"By the constitution of the United States, Congress is expressly
vested with the power to coin money, to regulate the value of
domestic and foreign coin in circulation, and (as a necessary
implication from positive provisions) to emit bills of credit;
while it is declared by the same instrument that 'no state shall
coin money, or emit bills of credit.' The constitutional authority
to emit bills of credit has also been exercised in a qualified and
limited manner. . . .

"The constitutional and legal foundation of the monetary system of
the United States is thus distinctly seen; and the power of the
federal government to institute and regulate it, whether the
circulating medium consist of coin or of bills of credit, must, in
its general policy, as well as in the terms of its investment, be
deemed an exclusive power."

These extracts from a document of great ability, state the whole
question in a few words. Congress has the power to regulate
commerce; Congress has the power to borrow money, which involves
the power to emit bills of credit; Congress has the power to regulate
the value of coin. These powers are exclusive. When, by the force
of circumstances beyond our control, the national coin disappears,
either because of war or of other circumstances, Congress alone
must furnish the substitute. No state has the power to interfere
with this exclusive authority in Congress to regulate the national
currency, or, in other words, to provide a substitute for the
national coin.

I next stated the objections to local banks. The first was the
great number and diversity of bank charters. There were 1,642
banks in the United States, established by the laws of twenty-eight
different states, and these laws were as diverse, I might say, as
the human countenance. We had the state bank system with its